The threat you face from Ebola and what you can do about it (Updated)

So we’ve been hearing a LOT about this Ebola thing for a while now, and every day, it seems like the problem escalates. How worried should you really be? What can you do about it? What should you be doing now?

James wrote an article several days ago about this topic called Ebola fear grips the world – here’s why you don’t need to freak out. I’ve been watching the news and reading sites about it but I never really sat down and looked at the problem until now. I wasn’t going to cover it at all except I think I need to put another perspective into what was already written.

Not to say that James is wrong in what he said, because he’s not. I just think that there’s a lot more information that you need to know to make an informed decision – and I do think that it’s about time you took some common-sense precautions. If the world gets its act together in West Africa and gets this thing under control then the worst case is that you know a little bit more about pandemics and you have some preparations in place that you could use for other emergencies if they come up. If they don’t get it under control, then you’ll be better-prepared to deal with it.

You may have read the Washington Post article recently where I was “quoted.” – How ‘survivalists’ in America are planning their escape from Ebola apocalypse — right now. What was left out of that interview was that I was stating that even if Ebola breaks out in the US, it’s still highly unlikely it would affect you personally. If it gets so bad that we have an unchecked outbreak like in Africa, your biggest threat would then be the people freaking out as well as grocery stores and basic services being disrupted. If you don’t have supplies then and be able to protect them, you’re at the mercy of the masses of scared people. Other quotes were dug out of older articles and put in. Don’t get me wrong, I still think a gun is the best protection against a bad guy with a gun. I just didn’t put it the way he made it seem.

Let’s move on.

One of the things that I’ve done around the world for the US Government is what’s called a Threat Vulnerability Assessment, or TVA for short. It’s a realistic analysis of what personnel could be facing in likely scenarios as well as worst-case scenarios. It’s something that the embassy or combatant commanders can pull out on a given facility that outlines things like the threat of terrorist threat, criminal threat, and medical threat.

To generalize things, it looks at at the relevant threats to the facility, looks at the vulnerabilities that the facility has to those threats, and suggests courses of action to reduce the risks of those threats. That’s what I’m gonna do here. We’re gonna look at the threat of Ebola and what you can do to mitigate that threat to your family. Because I keep adding to it, this post is going to be pretty long but it can’t really do justice to really getting into it. For that, check out Ebola Survival Handbook: A Collection of Tips, Strategies, and Supply Lists From Some of the World’s Best Preparedness Professionals. It’s 138 pages of information on ebola.

I do believe that this has the possibility to become a credible threat, but I also believe that you can do a LOT to mitigate this threat. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I don’t get all in a huff about things very much – even things that I believe are likely to happen in the near future. I think this one though is important enough that I sit down and explain it so you know what the world is facing and what you can do about it.

What is the Ebola virus?

Key facts

Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans.

EVD outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90%.

EVD outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.

The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.

Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are considered to be the natural host of the Ebola virus.

Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care. No licensed specific treatment or vaccine is available for use in people or animals.

Transmission

Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. In Africa, infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.

Ebola then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids. Burial ceremonies in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can also play a role in the transmission of Ebola. Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery from illness.

How do you catch Ebola?

The incubation period, or the time interval from infection to onset of symptoms, is from 2 to 21 days. The patients become contagious once they begin to show symptoms. They are not contagious during the incubation period.

What are the symptoms of Ebola?

About 5 to 10 days after infection, people with Ebola get a fever, headache, and body aches. Frequently there is nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cough, chest pain, and sore throat. Often there is sensitivity to light, swollen lymph glands, rash, as well as other symptoms. Patients also begin excessive bleeding where injections are given. During the second week of infection, people with Ebola may get better, but often they develop severe bleeding from many parts of the body. If this occurs, then the patient will probably not survive.

How is Ebola spread?

According to the WHO:

Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. In Africa, infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.

Ebola then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids. Burial ceremonies in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can also play a role in the transmission of Ebola. Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery from illness.

The other thing about the virus is that currently, there is no treatment yet. They’re doing testing on some people but nothing that’s been proven to work yet. Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said of the current possibility of a vaccine or a cure,

“I don’t want any false hopes out there,”

“Right now we don’t know if they work, and we can’t, as far as we know, have them in any significant numbers.”

Pretty scary stuff, right?

So just how bad is the Ebola threat in the rest of the world?

Almost all the casualties have been in Africa. Does that mean that if you don’t live in Africa or visit that you’re safe? Well, not so fast. The WHO has recently upgraded this threat to the highest level possible and says it’s now a worldwide public health emergency. Why? Because like a wildfire, it’s currently spinning out of control. They’re trying to get ahead of it as quickly as possible but it hasn’t been contained yet.

According to Trust.org, the healthcare system in Liberia is becoming so overwhelmed with cases that it’s collapsing. Liberia’s foreign minister recently said,

“People are dying from common diseases because the health care system is collapsing,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan said in an interview with Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“It is going to have a long-term impact, even after this crisis is behind us.”

I can see why the WHO declared this an all-hands-on-deck kind emergency. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) chief Tom Frieden also said,

“Ops Center moved to Level 1 response to given the extension to Nigeria & potential to affect many lives,”

The CDC had previously issued a Level 3 travel alert to Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, advising Americans to stay out of the affected areas of West Africa. Level 3 is the highest possible alert warning against traveling to a country. In Nigeria, where five more cases have been diagnosed, the warning level has been raised to 2.

In the days since the Level 3 alert to the other Ebola-affected countries, Nigeria’s lone case has become five diagnoses and an additional death– a nurse who had treated Liberian Patrick Sawyer, who died shortly after flying in from his native country to Lagos, Nigeria with the disease. In Saudi Arabia, a man who was being tested for Ebola after entering the country from Saudi Arabia died before results could come in, while Spain prepares for the return of a priest who was positively diagnosed with the virus in West Africa.

According to NBC News, the virus has now spread to FIVE African countries and the head of the CDC calls the outbreak a “Fog of war situation” and is currently on track to become worse than “all the previous outbreaks combined.”

The two Americans, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who were flown back to the US have been given experimental drugs to combat the disease, skipping all the normal testing procedures – which is almost unheard of. Did it work? Indications are that they’re doing better but Dr. Heinz Feldmann of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease told The Daily Beast,

“We don’t know if it is effective,” “We don’t have enough even if it was effective.”

Ken Isaacs, the vice president of Program and Government Relations for Samaritan’s Purse, wasn’t as chipper.

“We believe that these numbers represent just 25 to 50 percent of what is happening,” said Isaacs.

According to the World Health Organization, West Africa has counted 1,711 diagnoses and 932 deaths, already. That’s how many they’ve actually counted.

In a six-hour meeting with the president of Liberia last week, Isaacs said workers from Samaritan’s Purse and SIM watched as the “somber” officials explained the gravity of the situation in their countries, where hundreds lie dead in the streets. “It has an atmosphere of apocalypse,” Isaacs said of the Liberia Ministry of Health’s status updates. “Bodies lying in the street…gangs threatening to burn down hospitals. I believe this disease has the potential to be a national security risk for many nations.

So is it a threat to you if you live in West Africa – absolutely, yes. But what about at home?

What’s the threat of Ebola coming to the US?

For Ebola to come to the US, it has to become so out of control in West Africa that it spreads to other countries and then someone infected has to come here. Is there a risk of that happening?

Isaacs says that the epidemic is inciting panic worldwide that, in his opinion, may soon be warranted.

“Our response has been a failure.” “We have to fight it now here or we’re going to have to fight it somewhere else.”

If it does then leave, it still has to get into our country for it to have any chance to affect people here. Am I concerned about that?

You’re damn right. If they can’t contain this thing where it’s already affecting people, then it will spread around the world. If it spreads around the world, some of those people around the world who are infected can get into our country.

Having them fly in on an airline is one thing but there are steps that could be taken to mitigate that threat. It won’t stop people from coming in their own planes or ships but private craft are pretty small and if it did get in that way, I believe that we’d be able to contain it.

On Monday, the CDC said,

“There is no significant risk in the U.S.” “While it is unlikely that the disease would spread if imported into the United States, the recent infections in U.S. healthcare workers working abroad highlight the need for vigilance. CDC is reminding U.S. healthcare workers of the importance of testing and isolating sick travelers returning from the affected areas.”

My biggest concern with it getting into the US, however, is our Southern border.

The Border Patrol Council reports that 75 percent of illegal border crossers are from countries around the globe, other than Mexico. They are bringing diseases not common to, or eradicated from, the U.S.

So if someone were infected and decided to come into our country through Mexico, we’d catch them right? I’m not even going to dignify that answer with references. I live in Arizona. I see people who came across into our country illegally every day. They definitely didn’t get a medical screening.

Now, there are certain measures that can be put into place if things got way out of control.

In 2003, President Bush was dealing with the SARS virus and signed Executive Order 13295:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 361(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 264(b)), it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Based upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the “Secretary”), in consultation with the Surgeon General, and for the purpose of specifying certain communicable diseases for regulations providing for the apprehension, detention, or conditional release of individuals to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of suspected communicable diseases, the following communicable diseases are hereby specified pursuant to section 361(b) of the Public Health Service Act:

(b) Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which is a disease associated with fever and signs and symptoms of pneumonia or other respiratory illness, is transmitted from person to person predominantly by the aerosolized or droplet route, and, if spread in the population, would have severe public health consequences.

Sec. 2. The Secretary, in the Secretary’s discretion, shall determine whether a particular condition constitutes a communicable disease of the type specified in section 1 of this order.

Sec. 3. The functions of the President under sections 362 and 364(a) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 265 and 267(a)) are assigned to the Secretary.

Sec. 4. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit enforceable at law or equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, entities, officers, employees or agents, or any other person.

Sec. 5. Executive Order 12452 of December 22, 1983, is hereby revoked.

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 264(b) of title 42, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Amendment to Executive Order 13295. Based upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Acting Surgeon General, and for the purposes set forth in section 1 of Executive Order 13295 of April 4, 2003, as amended by Executive Order 13375 of April 1, 2005, section 1 of Executive Order 13295 shall be further amended by replacing subsection (b) with the following:

“(b) Severe acute respiratory syndromes, which are diseases that are associated with fever and signs and symptoms of pneumonia or other respiratory illness, are capable of being transmitted from person to person, and that either are causing, or have the potential to cause, a pandemic, or, upon infection, are highly likely to cause mortality or serious morbidity if not properly controlled. This subsection does not apply to influenza.”

Sec. 2. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

BARACK OBAMA

So what this means is that they can now legally detain anyone who has severe respiratory symptoms from ANY source as long as they haven’t proven that it’s the flu. I’ll let that sink in for a minute.

Ok, so I’m not all that comfortable with that being passed into law but this article is about Ebola. Right or wrong, there are drastic measures that can be legally taken, and as we’ve seen, it’s nothing but a phone call and a pen to make a bunch more laws if the White House wants it.

What that means is that if Ebola did break out world-wide and did manage to get into our country, it’s unlikely that it would become out of control like in West Africa. We have controls that can be put in place and trained medical staff in every town that can help keep people from getting other people sick.

So overall, I don’t believe that there’s currently a threat of you or your family getting Ebola if you don’t travel to West Africa. I do believe that if the WHO and the CDC don’t contain it there though, we’ll start seeing it in other countries and we’ll start seeing cases here in the US.

So what can you do to mitigate the threat to your family?

So as a prepper, you look at the possible scenarios and try to come up with common-sense measures of what you can do to protect your family.

The biggest thing you can do right now is make sure you have food and water at home in case you need to stay in for a while.

If you’ve looked, a lot of emergency supplies are already starting to run out. Why? Because people are starting to realize that they may have to stay home to protect themselves at some point. As I’ve mentioned before, if society’s services break down for a while across an area, or if there’s a THREAT of it breaking down, people will make a run on groceries, fuel, diapers etc.

Here are a few items you should consider – even if ebola is fully controlled:

Water

Water is the most important thing to have at home. You should have some stored and some way to filter water you can find.

Sawyer Products Mini Water Filtration System. This is what I use in my go bag, bug out bag, and on my Harley. The great thing about it is that it has a plunger that allows you to reuse this for thousands of gallons without having to buy more filters. They’re pretty cheap too.

Food

Remember that you’re buying for a family so you’ll have to divide the amount of servings by how many you have and how many days you think you may not have access to getting grocery food. Also remember that you’d have to be paying for food anyway so this is actually a very cheap 104 servings compared to a lot of food. Even if no disaster ever comes where you need this food, it’s not a waste. This is just a list of some ideas for you – your circumstances will have to dictate what you do.

Solo Stove Titan & Solo Pot 1800 Camp Stove Combo. You may need a way to cook your food or boil water. This is what I use in my bug out bag except I use a smaller pot because I’m only cooking for one. It’s an awesome little system that can run off twigs. You can also drop a small alcohol burner inside it to make that burner more efficient.

About ebola and other potential viral issues

Because the disease is not airborne, it’s actually manageable. If things get out of control, there are still things you can do.

If you remember from above, in order to catch Ebola, you have to have bodily-fluid contact with someone who’s infected. The key here is to avoid that contact.

The first step should be to make sure everyone in your family is aware of the symptoms of Ebola. If it does jump the border into the US, then you’ll need to make sure that you avoid anyone who has these symptoms.

Unfortunately, those symptoms are pretty common ones and it’s not very easy for non-medical people (and even medical people) to recognize an illness based solely on symptoms. I think this may become a real problem later on this year during flu season.

Because the threat is low right now (it really is), there aren’t any drastic measures that I’d suggest. I wouldn’t pack up the kids and head down to your underground bunker to wait it out just yet.

If things start to get worse and cases start to show up in cities across the US, you may have to limit your exposure to other people. This is called Social Distancing.

Hanging out at a large gym with a bunch of sweaty people probably wouldn’t be such a good idea then. Being in confined places with others where you can touch them should be avoided, if possible. If that does happen and you do have to end needing to go out into public, I’d suggest getting what we call PPE or Personal Protective Equipment available. That will cut down on the chances that you’d come in contact with any bodily fluids.

I’d expect that at this point, the government would start banning large events like football games and concerts. Then theaters and universities would probably be shut down. You’d have curfews in place and travel would be restricted.

If things break out here in the US, there’ll be a run on anything related to protecting yourself from pathogens, so you probably don’t want to wait until that point to get some. Ever been in a city where a hurricane is coming and seen the store shelves empty out from diapers, generators, water and other things? It’ll be the same thing.

If it does somehow break out here in the US some day like it’s doing in Africa, then things are gonna get a bit rough. Economies and people don’t do well when everyone panics. Hopefully you have some supplies available like food and water in case you need to stay home for a while. Once it gets to this point, you probably won’t be able to find any PPE unless you run across someone who stocked up on more than their family needed. This is when they’d institute Martial Law.

If it gets to this point, you really should just lock yourself down somewhere for a while. Maybe for quite a while.

What do doctors use to protect themselves when they’re in contact with infected people?

Here’s a video on what doctors wear to protect themselves from Ebola.

What gear should you have to handle a pandemic?

Here is some protective equipment that you should have available. A lot of this is what you should have anyway but a few of these are specific to dealing with Ebola or some other non-airborne pandemic.

I’ve tried to list examples of several of these items but it’s starting to get difficult to find some of these things available so if what I have listed is out, you may still find it with a search. I expect that there’ll be a run on these items soon.

You might also consider a full faceshield as well if you think you’ll actually be in contact with people who may be infected. Getting a virus in your eyes is at least as bad as getting it in your mouth. According to recent CDC recommendations for medical personnel: “The CDC no longer recommends that workers wear goggles, which may not completely cover the skin. Goggles also aren’t disposable and they can fog up, making it tempting for hospital stiff to adjust them using gloved hands that are contaminated with bodily fluids.”

Make sure everyone has a small flashlight. The CREE 7w flashlight is cheap enough that you can get a dozen of them and they run off AA. They’re also awesome.

Have some kind of lamp around the house so everyone can gather around together or you can see in the room without having to carry a light. The eartheasy SunBell is a great choice for a solar lamp and it can even give your USB devices an emergency charge. You can also make DIY oil lamps.

N95 MASK – These are typically the go-to masks. These 3M 1860 N95’s work well and are a better quality than the flat-pack ones. If they run out, check these. Also, don’t forget to look at Moldex N99 masks. They actually filter much better than the N95s but are much larger. If Ebola actually breaks out in your town and is an imminent threat, go with the N99s or N100s, not the N95s.

Recent Updates on the Ebola virus

Here are a few updates since this article was first posted, along with a quote from each:

An experimental Ebola vaccine could be in use in West Africa in the form of trials as early as January, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. “It will be deployed in the form of trials,” said Dr. Marie Paule Kieny, the WHO’s assistant director general for health systems and innovation. In a briefing with journalists Tuesday, she said that this would be a continuation of smaller trials conducted in Europe. “I’m talking about tens of thousands of doses, not millions,” she said.

The new guidelines differ from guidance issued in August. In addition to other standard hospital protection garments, such as gloves, health workers should wear coveralls and single-use, disposable hoods with full face shields.

The CDC no longer recommends that workers wear goggles, which may not completely cover the skin. Goggles also aren’t disposable and they can fog up, making it tempting for hospital stiff to adjust them using gloved hands that are contaminated with bodily fluids.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says he expects revised CDC protocols on Ebola to focus on training, observation and ensuring health care workers are more protected. (Oct. 20) AP

But health workers should wear double gloves, waterproof boot covers that go up to the mid-calf, a single-use gown that extends down to mid-calf and a respirator such as an N95 respirator or a powered air-purifying respirator. Workers treating patients with vomiting or diarrhea should also wear waterproof aprons.

An Ebola-stricken aid worker who had been receiving care at Emory University Hospital since Sept. 9 was released Sunday after being declared free of the virus, Emory officials said Monday.

An Ebola Outbreak Contained: What U.S. And Other Nations Can Learn From Nigeria – Oct 20

Minister Chukwu elaborated on what he viewed as a civic responsibility of the media. “Thirdly, the media is very important. And we are seeing the media play a major role in the U.S. outbreak. Media has an important role to play. Reporters, editors and publishers need to understand that this is a major public health danger and that the media needs to be a part of the effort. It needs to collaborate with the government, it must act responsibly and not publish information that has not been verified by officials.”

“That [21 day incubation period] is not specifically about Ebola but more [about] the general incubation time of microorganisms— the idea that in order to get infection in the disease, you need multiplication of the microorganisms in the body,” he said. “The lower the initial dose of the microorganisms you have, the longer it will take for them to accumulate to a critical level.”

Before flying from Cleveland to Dallas on Monday, Vinson called the CDC to report an elevated temperature of 99.5 Fahrenheit. She informed the agency that she was getting on a plane, the official said, and she wasn’t told not to board the aircraft.

The CDC is now considering putting 76 health care workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas hospital on the TSA’s no-fly list, an official familiar with the situation said.

The airline that unknowingly transported an Ebola-stricken nurse on a flight from Ohio to Texas has placed six crew members on paid leave out of “an abundance of caution,” and said it was warned by health officials about “the possibility” that the passenger had symptoms during the flight.

As this city waited anxiously to learn whether Ebola has spread beyond one victim, President Obama announced on Monday that the government would increase screening for the virus at airports both in the United States and in West Africa.

Mukpo, 33, was working as a freelance cameraman for NBC News when he became ill last week. He is the fifth American with Ebola to return to the U.S. for treatment during the latest outbreak, which the World Health Organization estimates has killed more than 3,400 people.

As with Ebola, there is no cure for the virus. And like Ebola, Marburg can have a high death rate for those infected. That’s leading many to wonder whether the Marburg case will begin yet another deadly outbreak of a terrifying disease in Africa, even though the bulk of the evidence suggests otherwise.

A nurse in Spain has become the first health worker to be infected with the Ebola virus outside of West Africa, raising serious concerns about how prepared Western nations are to safely treat people with the deadly illness.

“We are hopeful that brincidofovir may offer a potential treatment for Ebola Virus Disease during this outbreak,” Dr. M. Michelle Berrey, the president and chief executive officer of Chimerix, said in a statement released Monday by the company.

Our public health officials have led the charge to prepare and fortify our national health infrastructure to respond quickly and effectively to Ebola cases domestically. Their efforts include:

Enhancing surveillance and laboratory testing capacity in states to detect cases; in the last three months, 12 Laboratory Response Network labs have been validated to perform Ebola diagnostic testing throughout the United States;

Authorizing the use of a diagnostic test developed by DoD to help detect the Ebola virus.

Providing guidance and tools for hospitals and health care providers to prepare for and manage potential patients, protect healthcare workers, and respond in a coordinated fashion;

Developing guidance and tools for health departments to conduct public health investigations;

Providing recommendations for healthcare infection control and other measures to prevent disease spread;

Providing up-to-date information to the general public, international travelers, healthcare providers, state and local officials, and public health partners;

Advancing the development and clinical trials of Ebola vaccines and antivirals to determine their safety and efficacy in humans;

Monitoring by the Food and Drug Administration for fraudulent products and false product claims related to the Ebola virus and implementing enforcement actions, as warranted, to protect the public health; and,

Issuing by the U.S. Department of Transportation, in coordination with CDC, an emergency special permit for a company to transport large quantities of Ebola-contaminated waste from Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, Texas as well as from other locations in Texas for disposal.

A patient, who had recently traveled to Nigeria, came to Howard University Hospital in the District overnight “presenting symptoms that could be associated with Ebola,” spokeswoman Kerry-Ann Hamilton said in a statement.

Health officials said on Friday that they had identified 10 people who are most at risk of contracting Ebola after coming into contact with an infected African man now in isolation in a Dallas hospital.

As Obama administration officials sought to reassure Americans about efforts to contain Ebola in the wake of the first U.S. case, the military announced Friday that an additional 1,000 troops could be sent to West Africa to help fight the virus.

He is the fourth American to have contracted Ebola in Liberia. Dr. Richard Sacra was transported to the Omaha facility and received treatment there for three weeks before being discharged Sept. 25.

The video journalist, 33, reported symptoms on Wednesday and was running a slight fever. On Thursday he was tested for the virus at a treatment center, with the result coming back positive, NBC News said in a story posted on its website.

The effort to contain Ebola in Senegal is “a top priority emergency,” the World Health Organization said Sunday, as the government continued tracing everyone who came in contact with a Guinean student who has tested positive for the deadly disease in the capital, Dakar. Senegal faces an “urgent need” for support and supplies including hygiene kits and personal protective equipment for health workers, the WHO said in a statement Sunday.

Experts also discovered that the West African strain of Ebola was different from the one that has been circulating in Central Africa, thousands of miles away, since the mid 1970s. But the newspaper reports that the two ‘probably diverged as far back as 2004’.

A recent research related to the Ebola virus disease (EVD) states that the Ebola virus is rapidly mutating, making it difficult to diagnose and treat. A study conducted on the initial patients being infected with the virus in Sierra Leone revealed more than 400 genetic modifications of the Ebola virus, which might prove detrimental for the ongoing treatment measures but also to the vaccines that are under clinical trials for future treatment of the Ebola virus.

We have never had this kind of experience with Ebola before,” David Nabarro, coordinator of the new U.N. Ebola effort, said as he toured Freetown last week. “When it gets into the cities, then it takes on another dimension.

While doctors and government officials have spent months trying to stop the outbreak, the infections continue to rise: More than 40 percent of the total cases in this outbreak have occurred within the past 23 days.

Underlining the immense risks taken by those working in West Africa to understand and combat the worsening Ebola outbreak, five co-authors ofan important new Ebola study were killed by the virus before their research was published. The study, published Thursday in the journal Science, found that the virus has mutated during the outbreak — something that could hinder diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

The total number of cases stands at 3,069, with 40% occurring in the past three weeks. “However, most cases are concentrated in only a few localities,” the WHO said. The outbreak, the deadliest ever, has been centered in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, with a handful of cases in Nigeria. The overall fatality rate is 52%, the WHO said, ranging from 42% in Sierra Leone to 66% in Guinea.

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I am a military veteran who has deployed to combat theaters in Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan and have almost three decades of military and military contracting experience.

My goal is to help preppers and others understand how to intelligently protect their family and their way of life.

About Me …

Former US Army Chief Warrant Officer, Counter-Intelligence Special Agent and Combat Veteran. I grew up in the woods and spent a lifetime in various environments from deserts to jungles to politically-sensitive urban environments.

Occasionally, I want to let you know which prepper and survival gear is selling better than the rest. It’s a great indication that what you’re buying is a good value, and you can always read the reviews to see if you should buy it. This is currently the list of the top 10 best-selling prepper and survival gear items, along with an explanation for each.

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There are a lot of different things you can put on your bug out bag list and there’s not really one list of contents that you should follow. Each item in your kit will depend on your skill set and what you’re trying to prepare for. It’ll also change depending on your region, the season […]

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